Hello from Northern Lower Michigan!

Good morning all. I found this site and am thrilled with the info I've gotten. My family has just recently adopted a flock of 15 chickens (12 Barred Rock hens, 2 Barred Rock roos and 1 RIR roo), 2 "attack" ducks (Muscovies) and 1 Toulouse gander. It's our first foray into poultry but we've got experience with quite a few domestic and exotic animals over the years (my husband is a high school biology teacher).

We were asked to take the flock because the people were being foreclosed on. One of our friends knew we were interested in getting chickens, so we agreed. The person that was taking care of them was doing minimal work at best. They've had a rough time of it and the move was traumatic to say the least (we hadn't expected it to go the way it did ). We lost 4 hens on the trip over (it was a whopping 2 miles!). Needless to say, they're still a tad on the skittish side...but, we've only had them 3 days.

I do have hope, though. They all came running out this morning when I brought them breakfast...and the goose even honked good morning.

So, I'll probably have a ton of questions, so bear with me please. We live up near Traverse City, MI. The ladies and gents came a little sooner than we expected. We have a large run for them that we've made a temporary shelter in, and we're working on getting our coop built before the really cold weather sets in. Thanks to all who give the great advice/info here. It's been a ton of help so far!